The green gauge

· Plastic is considered far from fantastic in the Goan town of Vasco, which has gone plastic free. Twenty businesses have already been fined for flouting the plastic ban, and citizens have been issued with jute and paper bags

· Construction of a 45m-tall solar pyramid is under way in Mumbai. It works by drawing in air, heating it with solar energy and moving it through turbines to generate 10 megawatts of electricity

· Hydro-powered dams, one of many ecological scourges in India, could soon be seen off by a mighty - and infinitely sustainable - resource, bamboo. A 16- megawatt power plant is planned for Assam, fuelled by bamboo dust waste

Going down

· Millions of Indian rice farmers claim their livelihoods are at risk from GM testing. Field trials for GM short-grain rice have, according to furious farmers, been carried out near their own GM-free basmati rice paddies

· Delhi citizens won't be breathing easily this winter, according to the Centre for Science and Environment. An increase of 105 per cent in personal vehicle ownership means the city - which already has appalling air quality - is now officially choking

· India is home to half the world's tigers, but is losing the battle to save them. As if habitat loss and poaching weren't enough of a threat, a train route through the Dudwa National Park has run over and killed at least four